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 Genetic Information - January 9, 2009
| The life-threatening disease of AIDS might be preventable and curable by 2031, the head of U.S. infectious disease research said Thursday. Aggressive treatment of HIV infection shortly after infection has made it possible to live symptom-free without medicines for HIV patients | | Harvard University scientists have made a set of new stem cell lines that make it possible for researchers to explore 10 different genetic disorders including muscular dystrophy and juvenile diabetes. Researchers hope the new research will help them find new treatments for genetic diseases. The cells were taken from skin and bone marrow of diseased patients and re-programmed to behave like cells from days-old embryos. The subjects, whose ages ranged from one month to 57-years-old, suffered from a range of conditions from Down Syndrome to Parkinson's disease | | It is not impossible that U.S. adults could be overweight in the next 40 years if the trends of the previous three decades continue, according to a new government-funded study. Researchers say that the figures may seem impossible and that the actual rate does not reach the 100 percent mark. However, any upward movement in the rate is disturbing, considering that two in every three Americans are already overweight | | A genetic anomaly found in families with the rare Li-Fraumeni syndrome, may lead to a blood test to detect tumors early. LFS is a rare hereditary disorder in which the sufferer has greater susceptibility to cancer. It is linked to the mutation of a tumor suppressor gene, which usually helps control cell growth | | Researchers from Columbia University have achieved a breakthrough in treatment of the progressive, usually fatal Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS) or Lou Gehrig's disease. The skin cells from patients with this neurodegenerative disease are turned into motor neurons that are genetically identical to the patients' own neurons. Researchers now say they can create an unlimited number of these neurons that could help in a better understanding of the disease and, one day, lead to new treatments or even the production of healthy cells that can replace the diseased ones | |
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